


Parenting Advice

by Livelovelupin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Foster Care, Harry trying his best, M/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Remus Lupin Lives, Remus and Albus would've totally gotten along, Sirius Black Lives, Tension, The night before Hogwarts, okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24403333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livelovelupin/pseuds/Livelovelupin
Summary: “Lovely to see you, Sirius,” Harry said, rubbing his forearm. His heart felt a thousand times lighter. “Remus, too. You should have joined us at dinner.”Remus raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yes. We heard it was quite the affair.”“With teenage tantrums and things,” Sirius added, smiling slightly.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter (mentioned), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 158





	Parenting Advice

“Oh, I hate you,” Albus said, shaking his head. He turned to Ginny, whose hands were white from gripping her spoon tightly. “May I be excused, please?”

Ginny sighed. “Sure, Al. Just--” Albus needed no further prompting; he left the dining table, and everyone was eerily silent up until the sound of a door being slammed startled all of them. 

“I don’t know where he gets it from,” Lily said. “He’s so dramatic sometimes, _Merlin.”_

“You! Don’t talk about your brother like that.” Ginny said.

“It’s not like I’m lying, mom. I can’t stand him some--”

“Lily,” Harry said, trying not to sound so exasperated, “Please. He’s your brother.”

“It’s not like you don’t agree with me,” Lily murmured.

“Lily!” Ginny hissed, her silverware clattering on the table.

“What? I’m not--”

“One more word, and your grounded, Lily,” Ginny warned. Lily and Ginny were glaring at each other, then. The same red hair, brown eyes, fiery tempers; Lily broke eye contact first, shaking her head. 

“Oh yeah, that’s right; we can’t all be like Albus around here,” Lily said, and Harry knew his daughter well enough to know that it took everything in her not to say anything else. She glared at Ginny as she got up, and for the second time that evening, a door was slammed shut. 

Harry’s heart felt heavy; this was not how their last dinner before Hogwarts was supposed to go. He looked at Ginny, trying to see what was going on in her head. Her cheeks were still flushed, but she smiled slightly when she caught Harry’s eyes. 

Harry let out a breath; he was glad that she wasn’t angry.

“You know,” James started casually, shoving some food in his mouth, “the mashed potatoes are just right this time, dad. Not too salty at all.”

Harry’s heart swelled in his chest at his son’s attempt to lift his spirits. Harry knew for a fact that the potatoes were too salty; they always were. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” James said, flashing him a smile. “I like them.”

Harry coughed. “Well, I’m glad, Jamie.”

“You know,” James started, again, but more carefully this time. Hesitant. “You know that he doesn’t hate you, right?”

“No?” Harry said, voice tight. 

James shook his head. “He’s just… stressed, I think. Nervous.”

“Because of Hogwarts tomorrow?” Harry asked, and was immediately saddened. He was never nervous about going back to Hogwarts. 

James looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes-- I mean, partly, I guess.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Partly?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” James said, smiling sheepishly. “I promised not to tell.” 

“Any insight on Lily, then?” Ginny said, and snorted soon after, taking a sip from her glass. 

“Oh. I think she’s just angry from the Slughorn incident.”

“Still?” Harry asked. That happened so long ago that it hadn’t seemed relevant at all to Harry. Albus and Lily were both invited to one of Slughorn’s parties, and they were never invited again because of a fight that broke out between the two of them. 

“Still,” James confirmed.

“She’s so stubborn!” Ginny said, shaking her head. 

“To be fair, mom, so are you,” James said, and Ginny was trying not to smile at that. She threw a napkin his way. Harry didn’t laugh, but he felt his spirits rise the tiniest amount.

Harry was drying the dishes when he heard Ginny entering the kitchen, looking guilty.

“Oh. What did you do?” Harry asked, picking up another plate to dry.

“Nothing!” Ginny exclaimed, putting her hands out in mock surrender. “Nothing… bad, at least. Not in the long run, anyway. When you think long and hard about it, It’s nothing!”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “No?”

“Not at all,” Ginny said, kissing Harry’s temple. He sighed. 

“I’m going to talk to him, I promise. I just, I don’t know. I never know what to say.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think that--” Harry was cut off when somebody knocked on their door, three times. Ginny kissed Harry’s temple again, smiling apologetically in his direction. She went to open the door, and Harry knew what she did. He didn’t have it in him to be angry with her, at all. He was glad, if anything. 

Remus and Sirius entered the kitchen, baby Elanor giggly in Sirius’ arms. Harry couldn’t help beaming at her when she caught his eye. She was adorable. 

Remus hugged him, and Sirius, while balancing Elanor on his hip, pinched his forearm. Elanor laughed as if it was the most hilarious thing ever. 

“Lovely to see you, Sirius,” Harry said, rubbing his forearm. His heart felt a thousand times lighter. “Remus, too. You should have joined us at dinner.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yes. We heard it was quite the affair.”

“With teenage tantrums and things,” Sirius added, smiling slightly. 

Harry groaned as he sat down on the circular table in their kitchen. His head hit the table soon after, and Elanor, once again, broke out in a fit of giggles. Harry raised his head to look at her. He raised an eyebrow and made a silly face. She looked delighted. 

“Oh, the melodrama,” Ginny said, shaking her head. “Here; Let me and Elanor go see why the garden gnomes are acting up.” 

She wanted to leave them alone. Harry loved her. 

Sirius gave Elanor to Ginny, and Elanor didn’t like that many people, at all, but Ginny was one of the few people that she _did_ like. She took her pacifier out of her mouth and handed it over to Ginny, and if Harry hadn’t _just_ experienced the unimaginable angst of adolescence, he might have actually considered bringing up the topic of babies again with Ginny. 

_Babies are adorable,_ Harry reminded himself. _Teenagers are mean. The adorableness is how they trick you into having children in the first place, and then--_

Sirius pinched his forearm, again, and when Harry looked up, both Sirius and Remus were seated in front of him. Remus smiling gently, and Sirius grinning. 

Harry felt like he was sixteen, suddenly, stupidly. Like he was talking to them about Hogwarts and growth spurts and the sudden interest he had in both Ginny’s red hair and Dean’s strong arms. They were all so much older now; Sirius looked the same, for the most part, if not for the full head and snow-white hair instead of black, that Harry thought no one else could pull off except Sirius himself. Remus, if anything, had always looked older than he was, and not much had changed; the same smile, same salt and pepper hair, the same scars. Maybe a couple more smile lines. 

“Nothing you want to talk about, Harry?” Sirius asked. 

“Oh. No. Nothing at all.”

Sirius snorted. Remus shook his head and kicked Sirius’ shin. “It’s okay, you know. Having fights with them.”

“It is,” Sirius agreed.

“It’s just-- It happened so suddenly, you know? He used to talk to me about Quidditch tryouts and Scorpius and then…”

“And then he was stealing time-turners and going back in time?” Remus asked gently.

Harry banged his head again. “I don’t know what to do. He hates me.”

“He doesn’t,” Sirius said. 

“We thought you hated us all the time,” Remus added. “The only thing you talked to us about in fifth year, remember?”

“How much you hated us.”

Harry raised his head. “I never meant that. I never hated you guys.”

“Oh, don’t get all teary-eyed now,” Sirius teased. “We know that. We knew it then. You should, too.”

Harry felt like he was sixteen, and he was unbelievably glad that he could feel like he was sixteen, naive and responsibility-free (At least, child-responsibility free). He was glad that he could feel like that with Remus and Sirius around. Suddenly, he felt like crying. 

“How was Anne’s graduation?” Harry asked, changing the subject. He was _not_ going to cry.

“It was lovely.”

“So lovely,” Sirius agreed. 

“Did he cry?” Harry asked Remus.

“He couldn’t stop. You should see the pictures.”

Sirius hit Remus’ shin this time around. “Tessa’s graduating next Tuesday. You and Ginny should come. She sent you invites and everything.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Harry smiled. It felt like there was always a major life event happening around the Lupin-Black household. They have weddings and graduations and promotions at work. They fostered all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons; juvenile teenagers until they got their acts together, babies whose parents needed time. For weeks or months, sometimes years. 

Harry had once asked Remus how they could do it. Harry didn’t think that he had it in him to get attached to someone like that, knowing that it was temporary. Remus told Harry that they did it because other people wouldn’t. That these children needed to be cared for, and it didn’t matter that it was temporary. They never truly left, anyway. Everyone that left always, _always_ came back to visit. Plus, there were the life events; Anne’s and Tessa’s graduations, Tom’s wedding, Bailey’s middle school play.

They had Elanor, now, and Harry loved her to pieces. Loved Remus and Sirius to pieces. Loved his son to pieces, also, but he apparently had a hard time showing it. 

“Where’d you go to, oh savior?” Sirius asked.

“Very funny,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I just, you know, love you guys.”

“We just, you know,” Sirius teased, knocking his shoulder into Harry’s, “love you, too.”

“Did you talk to him?” Remus asked, and Harry shook his head no. He was dreading that the most.

“Okay,” Remus said. “I’ll go get him down here, and by then, you better know what to say.”

Harry kept looking at Remus, wanting him to continue. Remus tsked. “You know, ‘I’m sorry, Al.’ Something of that sort?” 

“I’ll give you back your broom.’” 

“Or, ‘I’ll talk to Malfoy about taking Scorpius with us tomorrow,’”

“I think I get it, guys, thank you.”

Both Remus and Sirius snickered.

“And Lily?” Sirius asked.

“Oh, that wasn’t me. That was _all_ Ginny.”

“Some kind of husband I have,” Ginny said as she entered, mud splotched on hers and Elanor’s faces. Harry grinned. She ratted him out first, anyway. 

Sirius took Elanor (who looked ecstatic) and said, “I’ll go talk to Lily.”

They both left, and it was just Harry and Ginny. 

“I’m glad you got them,” Harry said as Ginny sat in front of him. 

She smiled. “I know.”

Remus hadn’t expected Albus to answer the first time he knocked. He tried again, three times, and waited. 

“I don’t want to talk right now, mom!” Albus said, voice muffled. 

Remus smiled. He knocked again, and again, and again until he heard bed sheets rustling and angry footsteps. 

“I said I do _not_ want to-- Oh,” Albus breathed, cutting himself off mid-rant when he saw Remus. “Hey, Remus.”

“Hello, Al.” 

Remus waited for Albus to invite him in, and when he didn’t, Remus let himself in. “Wow. Have you not finished packing yet, Albus?”

Albus closed the door after them (rather aggressively). “No.” 

Remus sat down on Albus’ bed (having to move a pile of clothes first). He opened Albus’ green trunk and took a shirt out of the pile. “Come here; we’ll finish in no time between the two of us.”

Albus shook his head, kicking his trunk on his way to sit next to Remus. “I know why you’re here.”

“Hm?”

“You want me to talk to him. I will, I promise. You don’t have to--”

“Well, that’s wonderful to hear,” Remus said as he put the first shirt in the trunk. “Start packing with me, now.”

Albus eyed Remus skeptically, and Remus had to bite his cheek not to smile. He knew Albus too well; he’ll start whining about his father in no time. 

Remus was folding shirts, and Albus was folding shirts, and Remus could almost feel how hard it was for Albus, staying silent. 

“How was Anne’s graduation?” Albus prompted, and Remus knew that they would end up talking about Harry, soon. 

“It was wonderful,” Remus said, not meeting Albus’ eyes. “She graduated top of her class! Not that we were surprised, really; she’s brilliant like that. I told her you said hi. She says hi, too.”

“That’s nice.”

Remus hummed, picking up another pair of jeans. 

“Do you know what makes me angry, Remus?” Albus said suddenly, putting the shirt he’d just finished folding in his trunk.

Remus pretended to think for a moment. “Loud chewers?”

Albus’ eyebrows furrowed. “What? No-- well, yes, but that wasn’t what I meant.”

“No?” Remus questioned, and Albus seemed to catch up. He threw a pillow at Remus. Remus dodged it easily. 

Remus laughed. “I’m joking, Al. Tell me what angers you.”

Albus shook his head, and he tried to fold his dressing robes again after they looked lumpy the first time. They ended up looking worse, and Albus groaned, throwing them further away on his bed. He didn’t say anything yet, though. 

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Those are a hassle to fold. Want me to show you how to prope--”

“I’m angry, Remus,” Albus said. He was looking at Remus, now, all big, sad, green eyes and suppressed angst. 

“Yeah?” Remus asked softly. His heart broke for Albus. He reminded him of Harry a little too much, then, which is a thought he knew would make Albus want to rip his hair out if he heard.

“Yes,” Albus said. “I’m angry, you know? At myself and dad and the entirety of Hogwarts.”

Remus let Albus calm down for a second. “You’re not excited about Hogwarts tomorrow?”

Albus chuckled. “I’m never excited about Hogwarts. Never. I’m not not excited about Hogwarts tomorrow.”

“Dreading it?” Remus asked, and Albus let out a breath. 

“Yes. I mean, Scorp and I are usually anomalies, yeah?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And now we’re anomalies that went back in time and almost-- you know.”

“I do,” Remus said, and Albus buried his head in one of his pillows. He started screaming into it. 

“Hey!” Remus said. “Stop that.” He wrestled the pillow out of Albus’ grasp. “What I meant was, I _know_ that. I’m one of a very, very select few who do know that.” 

Albus rolled his eyes. “It’s not like no one noticed when we _disappeared.”_

Remus grinned. “Then just say you were chosen to save the world.”

Albus snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“Really, Al. Make up a story, tomorrow on the train. Maybe make up several stories,” Remus winked, “For rumors and such.”

Remus saw Albus trying not to smile. It was all that he needed. “One more thing.”

“Ugh,” Albus exclaimed, burying his head in all the clothes on the bed. “I knew this was coming.”

Remus tried not to chuckle. He really did. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Albus said, voice muffled. “I’m sorry.”

“Firstly, not the sincerest sounding apology, Albus. Secondly, I am not the person you should be apologizing to.” 

“That’s not fair!” Albus said. “Why doesn’t he apologize to _me_?”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “What would he be apologizing for, exactly?”

Albus raised his head, and, once again, the only thing Remus could think about was how similar he was to Harry. He bit his lip. “He-- He asked me if I was excited about Hogwarts tomorrow!”

Remus had to bite the inside of his cheek. “Oh, how cruel of him.”

Albus groaned. “He knows how I’m feeling.”

“So?” Remus asked. “I knew how you were feeling, and I asked. Didn’t hear you say you hated me, though.”

“Do they always tell you everything?” Albus asked, not quite meeting Remus’ eyes.

“Not the best aversion skills, Al.”

“He gets on my nerves,” Albus said, finally. “More-- more than other people. He makes me _so_ angry. All the time.”

“You know,” Remus started. “I have a theory about that.”

“About what?” Albus mumbled.

“About why you clash so much.” 

Remus didn’t elaborate, and Albus met his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, what?”

“The theory.”

“I’m keeping that to myself, for now, at least--” Albus wanted to protest, but Remus cut him off. “He loves you, Al.”

“I know that,” Albus mumbled, again.

“And you love him.”

Albus didn’t comment, and Remus knew that he was too prideful to. He let it pass.

“You can’t keep saying stuff like that to your dad. He takes it to heart, Albus. It hurts him.”

“I don’t mean it.” Albus coughed. “At least, not usually.”

Remus could hear Albus’ voice shaking slightly. “Oh, Al…”

“it’s just, sometimes I feel like he doesn’t like me, you know? And before you say anything, I know that he loves me. _I know._ He just… doesn’t like me. Like, he wants me to be so… different. James is perfect, and so is Lily, And I’m… not. He tries to, I think, but it’s so obvious that he has to try to like me, and he doesn’t have to try liking _anyone_ else, and… that makes me angry.”

Remus knew how hard it was for Albus to get that off his chest. He let Albus collect himself for a moment.

“You know what I think?” Remus had a lot to say.

“What?”

“We need somewhere to channel all that anger.”

Albus shook his head, scoffing slightly.

“We do!”

“Scorpius paints his nails.”

Remus tried not to grin too big. “Good for him?”

“No,” Albus shook his head. “I mean when he’s angry. He paints his nails and keeps talking about what is making him angry until his nails are colored, and then his anger seems to evaporate. No grudges, no pent-up emotions, it’s just gone.”

Remus’ heart swelled. “Yeah?”

“Yeah… maybe I could try that, with him, next time. Or-- or whatever. It probably won’t work, anyway. It was stupid to bring--”

“No!” Remus said quickly. “It seems brilliant. Maybe it will work.”

“Yeah.”

Remus couldn’t help himself. “It’s a Black family thing.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a Black family thing, being that charming.”

“What? Not--not what I meant at all!” Albus spluttered, cheeks crimson. “It’s not-- it’s just--”

Remus laughed. “It’s okay, Al. I’m just saying I understand. Same thing happened to me, anyway.”

Albus shook his head. His cheeks were on fire. “Scorp isn’t a Black, anyway.”

“Of course he is,” Remus said. “He has a constellation name to show for it, and everything.” 

“He’s a _Malfoy_ ,” Albus stressed, “and he’s not _charming_ \-- and that’s besides the point!”

“It’s because you’re so similar.” 

Albus furrowed his eyebrows. “Me and Scorp?”

Remus laughed. “I’m sure you and Scorpius are similar as well. But I meant your dad. It’s why you clash sometimes.”

Albus was silent for a moment. Then he started laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes. “Your theory sucks, Remus.”

“I’m not joking, you know. You remind me of your dad an unbelievable amount.”

“I look like him,” Albus said. “I think that’s where that ends.”

Remus shook his head. “I know your dad. Knew him while he was growing up, also. James, your brother, reminds me of James, my best friend. Lily reminds me of Ginny, and you are just pure Harry, Al.”

Albus rolled his eyes. “Dad has a hero complex. He has to… do the right thing, constantly. It’s annoying. _He_ is annoying.”

Remus elbowed Albus’ stomach softly. “Hey, now. I know he’s your father and everything, but stop insulting my son.”

“It’s true!”

“You’re saying that like you aren’t the same.”

Albus looked offended. “I am _not._ ”

“Oh? So you didn’t go back in time to save someone you didn’t know?”

Albus stayed silent. At first. “It didn’t even work…”

Remus shook his head. “That’s not the point. And Harry would’ve done _the exact same thing_.”

“I did it because I wanted to… prove something. Not because I’m good. Not like my dad, anyway.”

Remus smiled sadly. He remembered how scared Harry was of being bad. “You _are_ good, Albus.”

Albus didn’t respond. He went back to folding the shirt in his lap, and Remus let him. A little bit of silence was needed.

“Do you know what you have to do?” Remus asked.

Albus rolled his eyes. “I do.”

Remus smiled, picking up a shirt, and he grinned even bigger when he saw whom the shirt belonged to. “You’re right,” he said, folding the shirt so that the M A L F O Y above number seven was visible to Albus. “Scorpius is not a Black at all, apparently, he’s a--”

Albus snatched the shirt from Remus, turning red. He murmured, “I must have accidentally taken that.”

“Oh, you must have.” 

Remus got up before the shirt Albus threw could hit him. Albus was smiling, though, which was all Remus could hope for.

“I’ll be waiting for you, yeah? And it better be one hell of an apology, too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get out!”

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Harry would've been an infinitely better father had he had Remus and Sirius, you know? And I'm totally not falling in love with Albus, whaaaat?  
> I hope that was fun!


End file.
